Riding lawn mowers are well known in the turf care industry for performing a turf maintenance operation, namely for cutting grass. Such lawn mowers carry one or more suitable grass cutting units. The grass cutting units are vertically movable between a lowered grass cutting position and a raised transport position. The grass cutting units are also capable of selective operation, namely they can be started and stopped, at the discretion of the operator.
A riding lawn mower carries an operator who sits on a seat at an operator's station. The operator is responsible for the safe operation of the mower. The operator must drive the mower by manipulating various drive controls that determine the speed and direction of movement of the vehicle. These drive controls often comprise a steering wheel along with traction and brake pedals provided on the mower. The drive controls are usually placed on a floorboard in advance of the operator's seat.
In addition to the mower, the operator must also operate the cutting units carried on the mower. This comprises moving the cutting units into and out of engagement with the ground and selectively starting and stopping the operation of the cutting units. This is done using various operational controls that are separate from the steering wheel and the traction and brake pedals.
In many prior art riding mowers, the operational controls are provided in a fixed control console located along one side of the operator's seat. These operational controls are manipulated by one hand of the user while the user continues to grip the steering wheel with his or her other hand and continues to operate the traction and brake controls using his or her feet. These operational controls typically include an on/off switch for starting and stopping the cutting units, a lift and lower control for raising and lowering the cutting units, a throttle for varying the engine speed of the mower, a light switch, and a key switch.
One problem with the way the operational controls are configured in current riding mowers is that it restricts how the operator can mount or dismount the mower. The operator cannot step over the fixed control console that mounts the operational controls. Thus, the operator can mount or dismount only from the other side of the mower, namely the side of the operator's station that does not carry the fixed control console. Alternatively, the operator's station must include enough room in front of the fixed control console and between the steering and traction and brake controls that the operator can mount from in front of the fixed control console. In either case, how the operator mounts is restricted to only one side of the mower or the design of the mower is restricted by forcing the designer to leave enough space ahead of the fixed control console.